“Project Forward” will deliver the first truly deep-sea liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled ship design that is applicable to various sizes of bulk carriers.
It is a joint development project (JDP) between classification society ABS, ship owner Arista Shipping, ship designers Deltamarin, LNG containment system experts GTT and Finnish power and propulsion experts Wärtsilä.
During Posidonia 2016 this cluster of experts powering this project delivered insights and progression updates to the trade media. The representatives delivering the update were:
- Dr Elias Kariambas, marine business development manager, Global marine, ABS
- Antonis Trakatis, technical manager, Arista Shipping
- Konstantinos Fakiolas, sales director, ship design, Deltamarin
- Dionysios Antonopoulos, general manager, marine solution sales, Wärtsilä Greece
- Jacques Danton, GTT vice-president, LNG-as-a-fuel Division
It is a Kamsarmax bulk carrier design that sits at the core of the project. This first-of-a-kind bulker design, based on the Deltamarin B.Delta 82 design, will be suitable for worldwide services powered by LNG in compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index 2025 standards, NOx Tier III and Marpol Annex VI SOx emission levels.
The design is also suitable for scaling smaller and larger bulk carrier designs and may also serve the basis for an LNG-powered tanker design, said Deltamarin.
The project representatives spoke of how the technical challenges in developing this design were considerable but how great progress was being made. Challenges are in the majority due to the need to carry a large volume of LNG (2,500 cu. m.) for the full range operation for a deep-sea voyaging cargo vessel. This is a problem in this type of ship due to the amount of available space being limited and cargo space being a premium.
They envision the sailing range of this vessel to have a range of 40 days. This is interesting as other LNG-fuelled bulker projects to-date have generally been developed for smaller ranges (short-sea shipping) and fixed routes.
The GTT representative detailed the membrane-type tanks for the LNG containment system designed by GTT which are considered to be a novelty in this design as this type of LNG tank has not be used on previous LNG-fuelled ship designs. However, these particular containment tanks were selected for the Project Forward bulk carrier design to optimise the use of space for the higher volumes of fuel required for deep-sea voyaging, compared to diesel.
The ship design concept features a four-stroke medium speed Wärtsilä engine that is equipped with twin stage turbocharging with power take off and Controllable pitch Propeller, without auxiliary engines. This is also a novel component as previous designs have favoured high pressure two-stroke engines, however the use of a four-stroke for the project Forward ship design supports its use on other additional ship types and mitigates operational complexity and significant extra capital expenditure.
This project will also bring LNG marine fuel use outside of Emission Control Areas (ECAs) and into deep sea trading as LNG refuelling would only be necessary at major ports.
ABS will provide the Approval in Principle for the concept. This is expected in coming weeks, after which the ship owner Arista Shipping will be able to pursue opportunities to select a ship yard partner.
You can watch a video posted by Arista Shipping here:
Ship Efficiency Review News
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